Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Saturday announced that commercial aviation activities at Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta airports have returned to normalcy after four days of suspension.

PIA spokesperson, Mashood Tajwar, told Dawn that domestic and international flight operations at the aforementioned cities have all been restored.

However, normal flight operations at other major airports, including Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad and Sialkot, are expected to resume by Monday, he added.

The spokesperson said that international flights to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Beijing shall remain suspended until the airspace is completely opened up as the routes taken for said destinations are near the Indian airspace.

Federal Minister for Aviation and Privatisation, Muhammad Mian Soomro said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has issued specific instructions for the facilitation of stranded passengers on a priority basis, especially those stuck in Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries, as they may be short on funds or their visas could be nearing expiration.

According to PIA's statement, president and CEO, Air Marshal Arshad Malik is "monitoring the restoration of operation[s] and has directed all PIA officers and staff on PIA's entire network to complete the restoration job at the earliest".

The statement highlights that during the past four days "more than 400 flights and 25,000 passengers" were affected due to the closure of Pakistani airspace.

Furthermore, the statement noted that "more than 8,000 passengers have been transported to their destinations since [the] restoration of the flight operations".